Welles on Merv Griffin - Welles' last public appearance

[NoFake]

Just watched the legendary Merv Griffin interview of Orson Welles, available from Amazon as part of a 3-disc set, “The Merv Griffin Show: 40 of the Most Interesting People of our Time.” Griffin says it was one of some 40 he did with Welles, and that, unlike the others, which were made with the agreement that the two of them would “just wing it” and there’d be “no trips down memory lane,” this time Welles told him: “Tonight, I feel very expansive... all those questions you wanted to ask me about Rita, Marlene, Citizen Kane – ask them...” Welles died just hours after taping the show.

While it’s not complete, running about 8 minutes, the excerpt contains some very personal observations, although Welles slyly (and for us, sadly) tells Griffin, who asks him about “painful times,” that “I’m saving them for MY book.” His encomium to Dietrich is eloquent, his respect and affection for Hayworth moving. At the end, he says he’s been “tremendously lucky – that’s not false modesty – I do believe it has everything to do with everybody’s life.”

A propos de rien, a curious thing happens as he enters the set: approaching the audience, he throws a small box – a cigarette box? – to a girl in the front row. Anyone know what that was?

[atcolomb]

How is the rest of the box set NoFake?....i am thinking of buying it. How much of it have you watched?

[NoFake]

Unfortunately, I haven't had time to watch any more of it, but I can give you an outline: Disc 1, "Greatest Hollywood Legends," is 3 hrs. 40 mins. and has 10 interviews (of which Welles is the first) plus 2 "bonus guests"; Disc 2, "Greatest Comedians," is 2 hrs. 45 mins., and has 14 interviews and 1 bonus guest; and Disc 3, "Extraordinary Guests," is 2 hrs. 24 mins., and has 7 interviews plus 2 bonus guests. The quality of the Welles interview is excellent, and I imagine this will hold true for the rest -- "digitally mastered from the original broadcast tapes."

Anyway, for me it was well worth the investment.

[atcolomb]

Thanks NoFake!.....i might get it.

[RayKelly]

NoFake,
I don't recall a pack of cigarettes being tossed. He began the show doing a magic trick. He tossed a deck of cards into the audience. I taped the show the day it aired, thought I have not watched it a long time

[NoFake]

That would certainly make sense. It was very quick, so I couldn't be sure. But still, to toss a pack of cards into the audience, with no follow-up...? Maybe later on in the interview he did some card tricks, and that part wasn't included in the excerpt.

[NoFake]

Or, as you say, he may have begun with a card trick, and that part was cut. Anyway, thanks for solving the mystery!

[Jeff Wilson]

On the taped copy I have, he did a card trick; did they cut that out entirely?

[NoFake]

Alas, yes. I guess with 40 interviews, they had to trim them down. But we do have (or have seen) other examples of his prestidigitative skills, so I guess all is not lost, in the larger sense. Lucky those of you who taped the original!

[Tony]

I saw Welles do a magic trick on Carson one night when he was guest-hosting, and the trick didn't work; it was very weird; the audience didn't know what to do, and Welles just brought out the next guest.

[RayKelly]

There was a wonderful Readers Digest article that talked about the trick. I read it long ago, but it was something along the lines that it was trick he had great difficulty with in the past and he pulled it off the night before he died

[NoFake]

I think I saw that one, Tony, and may even have it, on a "Carson's Best" (or some such name) video...

[Tony]

NoFake: I believe his guests were Vincent Price and Terri Garr- unles I've mixed up 2 different shows.

[NoFake]

Haven't seen it in ages, Tony, so I can't recall who else was on it. If I get a chance to look at it again (unfortunately my video collection is not as organized as I'd like! ???), I'll let you know if your memory's accurate.

[Tony]

I recall that Terri Garr was complaining that she had had to make so many bad movies in order to make a living- movies such as "Beach Blanket Bingo' or the like, and Price said not to worry, as he'd had to make many "horror" movies in order to pay his bills, whereupon Welles chimed in with: " Yes, and I've had to make many "horrible" movies to pay my bills!" It was very funny. Also, Vincent told Orson how he had a photo of his father holding the head of Welles's father on a platter, from some sort of play they had been in at the turn of the century, about John the Baptist; Welles seemed very surprised at this, and I'm surprised as I'd heard his father had been an inventor, not an actor; perhaps it was a college play.